Employee Admits His Company’s PTO Feels Like A ‘Trap’ — 'I'm Starting To Think The Whole Thing Is A Scam'
He claimed that no one at the company feels encouraged to use their PTO.
fizkes | Shutterstock At first glance, unlimited PTO might seem like a dream. Being able to take off work whenever without worrying about running out by the time the holidays roll around. However, an employee took to Reddit with a different perspective about unlimited PTO, claiming his company's policy makes him wary to use it.
Posting to the subreddit "r/antiwork," he insisted that his company's unlimited PTO just feels like "corporate gaslighting" and that he, along with his other co-workers, feels as if it's not what they advertise it to be.
An employee said that his company's unlimited PTO feels like a 'trap.'
"I work at a company that proudly advertises 'unlimited PTO' as a perk," he began in his Reddit post. "Sounds great, right? But in the two years I’ve been here, I’ve only taken 6 days off."
He explained that anytime someone at his job decides to use the unlimited PTO that the company offers, they'll either get side-eyed from management, passed up for projects, or subtly punished. It also seems that his company doesn't have actual rules and guidelines for their unlimited PTO either.
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The employee said his company makes taking as little time off as possible feel like a badge of honor.
The employee claimed that there's no minimum or required time off, no one is tracking the days when an employee takes them, and there's this "unspoken rule" that you should only be taking time off if it's an emergency. On top of that, there are people at his job who "brag" about the fact that they haven't used their PTO days in years.
"I’m starting to think the whole thing is a scam designed to save the company money and make employees feel guilty for taking a break," he admitted. Unfortunately, many companies that have presented unlimited PTO to their employees as a great benefit fail to do it in a way that actually encourages people to use it.
Either they're made to feel guilty for requesting time off, or they're heavily encouraged to work even while on their PTO, which defeats the entire purpose of taking some much-needed rest from working.
What's important to note, though, is that unlimited PTO is a boon for businesses and not just because they create the belief that anyone who uses it is a bad employee. It goes much further than that. Peter Cappelli, director of the Center for Human Resources at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, told CBS Money Watch, "If you move from accrued vacation time — where you earn it and and the company owes it to you — to unlimited vacation time, it goes from an explicit contractual obligation to a kind of moral obligation, an informal obligation." U.S. companies are carrying hundreds of billions of dollars in liability for workers' unused vacation days, and as Cappelli noted, "If you say, just by changing a policy line you can dump $224 billion in liability, it's hard to imagine any other thing you could do that would have that kind of impact."
A large number of employees don't even use their PTO.
According to a Pew Research Center survey, almost half of employees (46%) don't use their paid time off. Of the employees who don't take all of their paid time off, 49% said that it's because they fear falling behind, while 43% said they feel bad about making more work for colleagues.
Sixteen percent of employees said they fear losing their job, and 12% said they work for bosses who discourage time off. A lot of this has to do with America's view on work ethic. Employees are encouraged and even pressured to make work their entire identity. It should take precedence over anything else that you have going on in your life, whether that means you're overwhelmed, burnt out, or lacking creativity/inspiration.
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It's gotten to the point where even though companies are introducing unlimited PTO, it doesn't mean they want their employees to actually use it. Instead, it's about optics. It's about seeming as if they care about their employees when, in reality, it's more about making the company look good and desirable to potential new hires.
In fact, according to an Empower report, on average, employees with unlimited time off policies take 16 days off per year, compared to the 14 days that employees with earned time off take. "Especially in the United States, where there is an expectation to work more than in other countries, employees may be hesitant to take too much time off, even when given the freedom to do so," explained organizational psychologist Caitlin Collins. "The report likely reflects how workplace culture, and leader and peer behavior, can influence individual decisions, regardless of policies."
Nia Tipton is a staff writer with a bachelor's degree in creative writing and journalism who covers news and lifestyle topics that focus on psychology, relationships, and the human experience.
